AU: The Last of Us and Uncharted
by InvaderSonic
Summary: Teenage Nate and Younger Sully (UC3 Flashback) are in The Last of Us world and they meet up with Ellie and Joel at gunpoint after Nathan shot Joel for harming Sully on accident. Joel thought he was a Firefly after Ellie. Nathan shot Joel in the shoulder and Ellie almost retaliated. . Joel held her back, after realizing they were just two people trying to survive.
1. Joel's Hurt

Joel fell a little bit, stepping back to balance himself. Ellie anticipate the other two in front of her to pull the trigger. She almost dared them to. Ellie looked back from the man with the dark mustache to the younger boy. She kept her gun at the Boy, as Joel kept his on the Mustache.

"So what the hell's going to happen? We going to sit here until one of us dies?" the Mustache asked. His hairline looked like it was receding a little bit, his brown roots becoming almost silver, like the patches of white in Joel's aging beard. His eye was bruising where Joel had punched him. Little dots of blood were sprayed on his shoulder from being smacked in the mouth. He had gotten the blood off of his mouth already, wiping it when he made eye contact with the Boy earlier. She saw the Boy anxiously look over at the Mustache, adjusting his feet and licking his lips. His heavy breathing of anticipation made his gun a little shaky. It reminded her of when she first shot the hunting rifle. Everyone's attention snapped to Joel, who fell a little lower.  
"Joel," Ellie almost gasped, closing their distance between them to hold Joel up a little. She heard him grumble at her a little, but she placed herself under his arm. The Boy lowered his gun a little bit, slowly stepping forward.  
"Kid," The Mustache warned. The Boy stopped at his third step, He looked back.  
"Sully, he's hurt." He said. "It's my fault, let me help a little-" The Boy began to walk forward.  
"Nate!" The Mustache yelled. Joel pulled his gun up, into The Boy's stomach.  
"Get away." He growled. "Step back or I will blow a hole on you." Ellie felt the bass of his voice in her neck. His shoulder bleeding out too much. She readied herself to shoot the Mustache on Joel's queue. The Boy, 'Nate,' stood where he was for a second before stepping back next to other man. He didn't bother to bring up his gun again.  
"Alright, we're leaving. Okay? I don't know why we stayed so long." The Mustache began to adjust his Firefly jacket. a little, lowering his gun slowly. Nate looked him. "Sully-"  
"Now, Nathan. Come on, we don't have time to play the hero." He turned around and left, his backpack full of arsenal like Joel's. Nate slowly moved back, staring at Joel's arm. Ellie redirected her gun to him.  
"Nathan, come on." Nathan turned around and left, meeting with the Mustache. As they disappeared around a crumpling building, Joel fell to his knees.  
"Joel-" Ellie almost squeaked. "Come on, come on. What do you need?" She asked. Joel began to strip his layers off as fast as he could, until he was able to get to his bare shoulder. He held his hand out.  
"Ellie, your shiv." He breathed.  
"What are you doing?"  
"Your shiv." He repeated. Ellie pulled it out of her pocket and wiped it on the inside of her sweater. "Joel, what are you doing?" Joel looked at his shoulder, poking around it and wincing every time he moved, sometimes letting out little grunts of pain.  
"I'm getting this bullet out. Now give me your shiv."


	2. Rush To Save

A painful scream was heard from a mile away, it seemed. Nathan stopped in his tracks. Sully hesitated his step, but insisted on moving forward. Nathan looked behind him, taking his gun in his hand.

"Nate," Sully called. "Are you coming or what? We have to get moving."

"What about the infected?" He asked. "That scream could attract them." Sully sighed , keeping his pace even.

"Let's just keep moving. Put the damn gun away, and get out your machete. If they come along, then, hell, we'll kill them. Now come here." Nathan turned around to see Sully about to climb up the side of the building to get inside. "There's probably things in here we can use. And we should get to a higher ground anyways. Come here, I'll give you a boost." Nathan walked over to him, cracked grass and torn out gravel crinkling under his shoes. The cold could almost be felt in his toes through the socks. Luckily, he had found a mass of cleaner clothes earlier while he was exploring in a building, so he picked up thicker socks and shirts. That's also where he found the jacket to give Sully, the one that got them in a little mis-hap earlier. Nate lifted up his leg and brushed the bottom of his shoe on his jeans to get possibly harmful debris off so that Sully's hands would remain cleaner and uncut. Nate's foot was done being brushed when he heard another scream, this time, it was a girl. Was it the little girl...?

Nathan backed off of Sully, walking hurriedly.

"Nate, don't you think about it-"Sully warned.

"Come on, Sully, it's our fault. It's my fault, what if it is her? With the guy? What if they're being attacked? We left them there-"

"Nathan, do not go back there. That only means we'll die too. Do you want-"

Too late. Nathan took off running. For some reason, he had just felt really bad. If he had never gotten that jacket, that old man wouldn't have attacked Sully. He wouldn't have been forced to shoot the old man. He heard a loud "Goddamnit, Kid-"before he heard footsteps following him. He had turned the corner of the crumbling building to see the little girl fighting off an infected mass of a body. It was in the near stages of becoming a clicker, but its head was still able to make an audible sound that wasn't quite clicking yet. Nathan ran faster, his machete in hand as he leaped over obstacles in the way. He saw now that the old man was lying on the ground with his arm tiredly over his shoulder. The little girl was audible now, her potty mouth yelling at the creature trying to eat them. He was about to strike, until she kicked the thing away from the man on the floor. She reached down and pulled up a baseball bat with silvery, rusted spiked on the end. She brought the spikes to its head, gooey brown fluids oozing out. It made croaking sounds as she ripped it out, a lot less spikes intact. She mumbled something before bashing the bat straight down in its skull, cracking it and ultimately killing it.

Nathan's running had slowed him down to about ten feet away from her. She looked around, the adrenaline from combat coursing through her. Nathan dared not approach her now. She hadn't even noticed he was there yet. She turned quickly, noticing him. Her eyes locked on Nathan. She began to run at him. Nathan readied himself and started moving back.

"Wait, I'm here to help-"

"Get down!" She yelled. Nathan did as he was told and ducked. The girl's bat bashed against an infected that had snuck up behind him. Splinters from the bat fell onto his back, as well as some thick blood splattered that onto his arm. He turned around and finished the job himself, hacking its misshapen head off. He saw Sully running up from the side, his gun ready. He stood in what seemed like shock for a couple of seconds before dropping his arm a little. He looked around, keeping both hands on his gun. Nathan turned around and smirked at the girl. She just stared at his features for a second before turning her back and walking to the man on the ground. He followed her, pulling off his backpack. When he started to unzip it, a familiar hand grasped onto his wrist.

"Nathan, you almost gave me a goddamned heart attack," Sully breathed. "What the hell was that for? Did you want to die back there? Goddamn…."He breathed. "Before you even answer, what the hell is your benefit in helping these people? We don't know them. If anything, they deserved it for attacking us." Nathan tugged himself away from Sully's grasp.

"It's my fault. Just let me help them, okay? It's my bullet in him, and we probably attracted more of them earlier with the shots. The scream just helped them pinpoint them. We have to at least take them somewhere safer. She can't carry him." Nathan pointed with his elbow, as he pulled some gauze and alcohol out of his bag. Sully looked on for a couple of seconds before Nate walked past him, distracting his vision.

"Damnit, kid…" He mumbled before walking over to greet the girl and the old man.


	3. Waiting

Ellie began to play with her shiv. She started to stab it into the carpet, cutting patterns while waiting for Joel to wake up. He had passed out from the blood loss a while ago, and luckily those two came back to help drag him somewhere. She thought about how he used her shiv to cut into his shoulder and pull out the bullet. Desperate times, endure and survive. But Ellie would never have the heart to rip a bullet out of Joel. She tried her best when he was stabbed a while ago, but that's as much as she could handle. She tool an old sock from the floor and spat on her knife, shining it as bright as it could be right now. She heard footsteps above, and the faint mumbling of the Mustache. She learned his name was "Victor Sullivan." She heard the Boy, Nathan Drake, call him "Sully" all of the time.

"Goddamnit-"She heard. "Stop that, Nate, you scared the shit out of me."Laugher ensued after his response. She moved to the door, which wasn't far from where Joel was laying. The two were conversing amongst themselves, Sully slapping Nate upside the head. "Shoulda left you out here alone," He joked. Nate began to walk back into the hallway of the broken house they managed to find. The wind wasn't too intense outside, but it was enough to give you chills if you sat still. He started heading towards the room Ellie was sitting in. She scoot back to her original spot next to sleeping Joel. Nate walked into the doorway, and smiled at her. He was trying to get her to make eye contact with him, but she avoided it as much as possible. He sat down next to her. He was really tall, she guessed his age to be almost 17. He had a kid face, which helped him seem younger.

"Hey," He almost whispered. "How is he?"Ellie just stared at the ground.

"He's fine," She mumbled. She continued cutting out patterns in the ground. Nate picked up a small bit of a knife out of his back pocket, and started to join in. Ellie pretended not to be interested, but in a couple of minutes, it seemed like he was showing a profound artistic gift. Before she knew it, he had sculpted eyes and faces out of masses of old carpet. "Holy shit," she breathed. Nate looked up at her, but Ellie refused to make eye contact still. He smirked again, as she could tell from the corner of her eyes. _If he doesn't stop staring at me I'm going to stab his eyes,_ Ellie thought to herself. She turned around and looked at Joel, who shivered a little. He started to wake up; she could see the tiredness in his old, brown eyes. They were still intense and aware, even though he had slept until sundown.

"Joel?" She asked. "Hey, Joel." He coughed a little bit and almost sat up. "Wooah, there, stay down. Your shoulder is too bad for you to be sitting up." She looked back at Nate, who wasn't concentrated on Ellie anymore. He was flipping through a notebook he had, that he kept doodling in. "Hey, um, Joel," She continued. "The guys that we got in a fight with, they helped you get to safety-"As she finished her sentence, Joel almost jerked up.

"Those son-of-a-bitch Fireflies-"He coughed out. "Stay away-" Ellie pushed Joel back.

"Shit, no, don't sit up. No, Joel. They're not Fireflies, remember? They're just regular guys. They felt bad for this and they helped me help you." Joel looked a little hazy for a second, but seemed to remember.

"Fine, fine." He mumbled. Ellie turned around and rummaged through her bag.

"Joel, here, if you wanna walk around, I made you a sling. Nate helped me find stronger fabric in here." She said. He was really just watching her tie fabrics around her arm, moving around in it and either ripping it or thinking it was too stiff. She was approached by him, who gave her a strong, washed out blue scarf. She stretched it for a little and tested its durability, and deemed it worthy. She mumbled a "thanks" and walked past him. Joel sat up slowly, wincing at his arm.

"Thanks, Ellie," he said, letting her tie it around his shoulder. She saw Nate's face perk up a little at the mention of her name. She hadn't really given him her name since they helped out. She kind of wanted it to be a secret. Joel stood up on his own, about to reach for his bag. Ellie stopped him. "Well, actually, we're just going to stay here for the night," She said. "It's the most well put-together house in a while. And we can take shifts sleeping." Ellie eyed Nate as she mentioned the shifts. He caught her stare and looked at Joel. "I'm not going to do much, just scavenge the house and leave when the sun rises with Victor." He said. Joel looked over Nate as well. Ellie saw the gears in his head turning as he stared. He made eye contact with Nate, then moved along. "Where's Victor, is it?" He asked. Ellie watched Nate put his hands in his pocket and walk in front of Joel.

"Hey, uh, Sully," He called into the house.

"What is it, Nate?"

"Joel's awake," He said. Sullivan walked down the hall and greeted Joel.

"Good to see you're alive," He almost laughed. His eye was horribly purple, and his cheek was still red from the combat between the two. Ellie imagined that he had a few other bruises on his torso. "I'm Victor Sullivan, or Sully, whatever you-"

"You're leaving by morning?" Joel cut off. Sullivan put his hands in the air, as if brushing off an accusation. "Because that's what the boy said."

"Well, maybe, depends on the _whether_."

"The weather?" Joel asked.

"Yeah, whether or not the streets are going to be crawling with those infected things. And besides, our little tango earlier broke my gasmask, so I was going to scavenge in here until I found something," Ellie saw Nate chuckle a little bit. She walked over to him and asked what was so funny.

"He made another whether joke, that's all." He explained. Ellie caught herself smiling a little bit. "Sully can have some of the best jokes." Ellie internally laughed at herself a little, thinking of her joke book. Maybe someday she'll be so funny she doesn't need a joke book.

Sullivan and Joel began to converse some more, a little less rudely on Joel's side. Ellie felt weird left alone with Nate. She began to talk past Joel before he stopped her with his free arm and placed her protectively to himself. He casually continued conversation with Sullivan, but he made dirty looks to Nate, who couldn't stop staring at Ellie.

"By the way, This is Nathan Drake. We just kind of….stuck together one day." Sullivan laughed. Nate smiled. "I bribed him for food with cigars," He said. "I knew they would come in handy." Everyone shared a mutual laughter except for Ellie. She just stood there, waiting for Joel's cage on her to lift. But it seemed with every passing minute of them talking about small things, his grip got tighter. But Nate wouldn't stop staring at her, so Joel was good to keep him out.


	4. Artistic Needs

Nathan was over intrigued by Ellie. He hadn't known her name until a little bit ago, which was odd. They had spent all afternoon together and the only name he managed to get out of her was Joel's name. He tried to respect her privacy, but he wanted to know more about her. She wouldn't talk to him though. She was kind of young it seemed, but she was strong as hell. He noticed when she walked by Joel that she still refused to look at him. Why was that? She only looked up at Joel with her green eyes, scanning him it seemed for a sign of something. Nathan turned around and began to look through the house again. Maybe he could find something to write with. He had a little piece of charcoal, but it broke. Nathan thought that was better off, anyways. Charcoal only made big messes and were a waste of his notebook paper. Sully and Joel continued their small talk of "Where were you before you came here," and "How many were there," and "Were you bitten." Nathan checked through the piled of old laundry, a sour smell arising from them. He used a pipe he found on the floor to go through it. He worked through too-big shirts, moldy jackets, and some animal corpses, crushed by the weight of the clothes. When all of the clothes were out of the pile and onto a thinner layer to cover the carpet, he declared that nothing that showed up would be useful. He almost made it out of the room, but an open drawer of a vanity caught his eye.

He messed with the ring on his necklace as he stepped forward to take a look. The drawer squeaked loudly when it was moved. It temporarily stopped Joel and Sully's conversation.

"Nate, what the hell was that?" Sully called.

"It's just a drawer," He replied. "I'm looking around." Nathan reached inside and pulled out an oval shaped case. It was pink and flowery, but also see through. There were pencils and little discs of color inside. He walked out of the room, his eyes fixed down on it and walked unto Sully. When their shoulders made contact, he unzipped the pouch and showed him what's inside.

"Look, there's things to draw with," He said. Sully put his arm around Nathan, almost mimicking Joel and Ellie. Sully rummaged around in the bag and smiled.

"Kid, that's make up." He said. Joel smiled a little bit, Nathan could tell. His beard moved with his mouth into a smirk. Ellie looked around as far as her neck could go without leaving Joel.

"Hey, that's like the stuff that me and my friends used to put on when we found some," She said. She excitedly left Joel's grasp and pulled some things out of the bag. "Yeah, you like, do stuff to your eyes with this and you use this to, like, make your face one color or something." She mumbled. Nathan watched Ellie take the bag from Sully and go through it, pulling some things out and opening it a little bit. Nathan picked some things out too, and looked at them. "This stuff is like, blue," He said as he opened the disc. It looked a little worn down on the inside, like someone used it a little bit before. Ellie pulled back her sleeve to barely above her wrist and rubbed her finger in it. She looked up at Nathan for what seemed like the first time to him, and wiped her finger down his nose. He stepped back a little bit, about to wipe it off.

"No, don't!" Ellie said. Nathan stopped walking back and waited for Ellie to go around in the bag a little bit more. She pulled out a larger circle, and opened it. A very light skin tone powder was inside, but it seemed to be almost gone. She turned it around to show him a mirror. Nathan looked at himself and smiled. A faint mark of blue ran down his nose. He took the blue powder in his hand and rubbed his finger in it, coating his finger in blue powdery stuff. It kind of reminded him of charcoal, the way it just made a mess on his hand instantly. He pressed it on Ellie's nose, or tried to. Ellie shifted out of his way and hit his arm to redirect the blue contact. It ended up slapping Sully's arm, who paused mid-conversation and stood there. He slowly lifted his jacket arm, revealing two fingerprints of bright blue, with a little powdery dust around it.

"What the hell, kid?" He said more as a statement then a question. Joel just smiled at Ellie, who broke into a grin herself. Sully wiped off his arm and pushed Nathan a little bit. Ellie started walking down the hall, motioning for Nathan to follow her. Nathan excitedly trailed her, and they ran into another room.

Nathan rummaged through the pouch some more and pulled the objects out one by one. Ellie sat on the floor and motioned for Nathan to do the same. He obeyed, and placed the inventory in front of him. Ellie picked up some things and played with them.

"So, like, do you draw?" She asked. "You said you found these because you wanted to draw with them." Nathan smiled.

"I'm trying, but I can't get some things right." He looked over the objects in front of him.

"Can you show me things?" She asked, playing with some green powder now. Nathan looked at her, the green on her fingertips drawing into the carpet. He felt around his jacket and pulled out a tiny notebook.

"Here, Sully lets me keep at least two at a time," He handed the little leathery book over to Ellie. She flipped through the first few pages and laughed a little. Nathan was a little embarrassed, and then reached out to take it. Ellie fell back and continued flipping the pages. "No, these are cool. I can't really draw so this is awesome, compared to me." She said. "The first one kind of looked a little 'piggy' though. The nose was funky." She laughed.

Nathan thought, then remembered his drawing of Marlowe he tried. Since she's gone, Sully doesn't really like to talk about her. When Nathan first drew her, Sully looked at it and nodded. Not any recognition of anything he's done; but when Nathan pulled up a picture of an infected he spent ten minutes on, Sully would give him a "Good work, kid." Or "You're getting better, Nate." Even his, "You've got major talent."

"Ah, cool," Ellie said. Nathan's gaze shot up to meet Ellie's smile. She turned the notebook around and showed him his drawing of Marlowe. "She looks good, I like this one. She's a little older, huh?" She asked, tilting her head. Nathan nodded. "Yeah, that's Marlowe. When I met Sully, she was with him. She had a guy in a torn suit with her too, like at all times. He got taken, though. And well, she's, not here, so…" Nathan trailed off. Ellie refocused on the book. She closed it and handed it back to him. "Hey,"

Nathan looked up at her. She scoot closer to him, and handed him a brush. "You should draw on my face," She offered. Nathan looked up at her full cheeks, almost a perfect canvas. He took the brush and smirked a little.

"I wouldn't know what I was doing," he laughed. Ellie smiled.

"Just do something," She said. "I have a feeling you'll stick around for a bit."


	5. Make Up

Ellie sat still and let Nate do his thing. He used his fingers mostly, but sometimes picked up a brush to help. He would work diligently for a bit until his arms hurt from holding them up for so long. Ellie would sharpen the soft pencils for him when he was relaxing for a bit, so that he could use those without messing up.

"So," She muttered as small talk between face painting.

"So?" Nate asked, stretching his arm a little bit.

"How long have you been drawing?" She saw Nate lean back a little and smile.

"Eh, for a while. Since I was in an orphanage in Columbia, I really couldn't put a set date. They didn't like us to worry about the attacks or security breaches when it happened, so they would give us mindless activities to do to keep the kids quiet."

Ellie kind of tilted her head. "An Orphanage? Like, kind of like a boarding school?" Nate looked at her, a distant sadness in his blue eyes. "Yeah, kind of," he mumbled. Ellie looked down at her hands. "I was in a boarding school for a while, with my fried Riley, when I was in Boston for a little bit. The family I was with left me there, then I met Joel." She looked at her right sleeve on her sweater, where her scar was. "It was kinda fun, just being there and talking with kids my age." She looked back at Nate, who was staring at her face.

"So, why'd you leave?"

Almost before his sentence was finished, Joel almost burst through the opening. "Come here," he said. "No sound, come here. Both of you." Ellie stood up quietly and looked around. There was a large window in the room, cracked but not broken. She stepped slowly away, before Nate got up as well. He managed to stay quiet too. They both almost ran into Joel, who placed his hand on both of their shoulders. Ellie reached her hand back for her shiv as Joel quietly escorted them out of the room they were in. Nate let out a shiver, and that's when Ellie realized he had left his jacket in the other room. She saw Joel's grip tighten on his shoulder, almost like a warning. "Get your things that you came in here with. Stay as close to the hallway as you can, and stay low." Joel growled. Ellie definitely knew they were probably surrounded by infected. She looked and saw a harness come over Nate's jaw. She snuck into the room that her bag was left in. The window had an odd light coming through of it from the full moon. The silhouette of trees danced on the floor with the wind. It was beautiful until an object obstructed the view. Ellie listened, and heard it through the wind. She didn't have to look up to know that a clicker was in between her and the glass. As quickly as she could, she grabbed her bag and slid behind the wall back into the hallway.

"Do you know how many there are?" She whispered to Joel after sneaking behind him. He had his back pack at his feet, his arm still tied up in the scarf.

"There's a lot, just keep your head down, you know the drill." He replied. Nate had wormed his way quietly back into the room he and Ellie were in, his dark grey jacket in his hand whilst his bag occupied his other hand. He stopped in his tracks, and Ellie had wondered what was wrong. He stayed there for what seemed like forever until Sullivan walked down the hall to him. Nate hissed something, and Sullivan stopped.

"He's looking at me,"

Joel turned around and looked at Nate too. Ellie picked a pipe up off of the floor. She figured it was a better, longer range than her knife. Nate stood motionless, his foot mid stride. He hadn't quite touched ground yet. Ellie hid behind the edge of the door near the window. She reached her hand out, careful that it didn't touch the moonlight that helped the infected spot Nate. "Nate, give me your bag," She whispered. She figured if Nate was lightweight, he could hold his balance better for longer. Her fingers almost touched his, and she could feel the chill of his iced knuckles. He slowly began to lift his bag, his eyes on the thing in the window. She could see some nervous sweat revealing itself on his forehead. His fingers almost touched hers when she heard a gravely moan. Nate tensed and his grip hardened. His eyes were super fixed on the infected on the other side, that it seemed everything else in this world was irrelevant. All that mattered was that thing leaving the window.

Another infected creak was heard, but it wasn't muffled from glass. Ellie looked behind her, and saw a twitching body making its way across the living room in the house. Joel stood still, his gun ready for the thing. It was the only combat he could manage at the moment, but Ellie knew that once that shot was fired, they would be trapped.

"Goddamn…" She heard Sullivan breathe before sneaking up behind Joel. He slid against the wall and picked up a plank of wood off of the floor. He snuck down low, looking in every moonlit room before moving forward. Joel stepped back, lowering his body from the thing's viewpoint. An alert screech echoed down the hallway. Nate's eyes darted from the end of the corridor to the window. A line of clicks and creaks echoed around them, other infected becoming aware of the possible human hosts they were surrounding. Ellie held onto her rusted pipe tightly, her other hand still reaching for Nate's bag. Her point of interest changed as she heard a tight breath being exerted. She turned her head, her ponytail whipping the wall behind her. "Nate!" She hissed. "Hand me your bag, you'll last longer standing. Do it right now."

A thud was heard, a small crackling becoming simultaneous with it.

"I can't, it's looking…" He mumbled with his throat, trying to not move his mouth. "It's going to come in here." His eyes scanned Ellie for a second.

"If it breaks through the glass, I'll drop my bag…" He said slowly and very separately. Ellie leaned in to hear his hissing. "Hand me the pipe and I'll get it before we get in the house."

"The other one in here is going to hear it," She replied. Nate raised his eyebrows toward the living room. Sullivan was standing up without a plank, a dead infected on the floor. He slithered back to behind Joel to reunite with Nate. He raised his eyebrows and looked at Sullivan. Another hit and a crackle were heard, followed by a squawk. Nate winced this time. His fingers loosened on his bag. Ellie held the pipe to his hand, ready to let go once she heard a shatter. A couple more hits echoed, crazed screeching becoming shrill and aware that Nate was not an infected, but a human ready to be a host. One by one, his cold fingers loosened until only his middle finger was hooked and holding on loosely.

The shatter happened, the screams of the infected becoming louder with the barrier out of the way. Nate's bag dropped on Ellie's shoe, and she held the pipe up. He grabbed it, running over the makeup on the floor leftover from the completely normal moment a second ago. Well, almost completely normal. Ellie peaked behind the door, other clicks in the distance becoming louder and multiplying. She tripped and grabbed his jacket, followed by his bag. She saw an infected reaching through the glass, cutting its own skin with its desire to bite him. Nate brought the pipe down in its head, completely snapping its neck. Blood oozed from the window as the body twitched, still wanting the taste of flesh even in its death. In a moment of silence, he began to step back. Everything seemed quiet, until more clicks and moans were heard.

Nate stepped back and grabbed his things from Ellie. Joel had his backpack slung over his good shoulder, ready to run out the door. Sullivan ran ahead of Joel, and looked around in the living room. Ellie and Nate followed, Nate throwing on his bag after sliding into his jacket. "Here," Sullivan called, flipping over a table. He used his weight and stepped down on the legs, breaking them off. He handed a leg to Ellie and threw one to Nate. Joel too his gun back out, as Sulliivan broke off a leg for himself. He peaked out of the window, and realized something.

"Goddamned door is broken," He said tartly. He pushed it a little bit, and it swung open. Three infected stood outside, not yet aware of where the next hosts could be located. "You kids ready?" He said as he motioned to run outside. Ellie braced herself before walking up to Joel's side. She grabbed onto his sleeve for a second and looked up at him. Joel looked back at Ellie with his familiar determination. _Endure and survive…_ she reminded herself before walking ahead of Joel, ready to take on the monsters outside.


	6. Head to the Gate!

Nathan ran in front of Joel, taking his place at the opposite side of the door that Sully was stationed at. "What now?"  
He asked in almost a panic. The creaks and moans grew increasingly loud through the open door. He looked at Ellie, who  
was standing with and supporting Joel. He figured she'd stay behind with him.  
"Well, I was thinking we'd rush out and kill them as fast as we can before more come along." Sully said.  
"What about clickers?" Nathan asked. "We can't just rush out, the clicker will get to one of us. There are probably a  
lot more. So what do we do?" Sully looked around outside through the window, not daring to stick his head in the  
doorway.  
"Goddamn kid, I'm just as lost as you," He spat. Sully examined outside a little bit more. "There are only four of them  
out there,"  
"_Only_ four?" Nathan scoffed.  
"Look Nate, shut your damned mouth and let me talk. There's a gate over there on the other side of the street. We  
can hop it, it doesn't look like there are any infected over there. Past that gate. If we rush out now and take those four  
out quietly, we'll have enough time to go over the gate and jump it before the ones behind the house realize what's  
going on." Nathan nodded and looked at Ellie again. He asked her if she had heard the plan, and she nodded and looked  
at Joel. Nathan sighed.  
"How are we going to get Joel over?" He asked.  
"I can handle myself over a gate," He grumbled behind them. Ellie smiled up at Joel a little bit. Nathan watched her for  
a second before shuffling over to the doorway.  
"We still have that clicker to deal with," He hissed.  
"I've got it," Joel declared. "I just need a machete, or a knife."  
Nathan looked over and Sully. He motioned with his head to proceed in handing Joel the machete. He unhooked it  
from the back of his bag, and held it up for Joel. "So, how do we do this? A one-two-three, or is there some sort of  
code word?" Nathan asked. "I like the word 'apple.'" Sully shot him an irritated glare.  
"Don't be a jackass, kid." Sully mumbled. "Alright, after I go, you follow me. You two," Sully motioned towards Ellie  
and Joel. "Stick behind us,"  
"Oh, no, I'm going first." Joel stepped up. "There's no way you're going out there without that clicker gone first. I'll go  
alone-"  
"Joel-" Ellie warned. He shot a look at her before continuing.  
"You three stick behind me. Get close but undetected by the other ones out there. Once you get close enough, wait  
until I kill the clicker. The second I get it, the other ones will be alert. Then, we'll run to the gate." Nathan and Sully  
nodded. Joel put the other arm under his backpack, fighting the urge to wince at the pain. Ellie stuck close behind him,  
following him instantly out of the doorway. Nathan followed. The moon provided more than enough light here, which  
helped out so much. Joel snuck as fast as his injured self could to the clicker, hiding behind objects, or casting himself  
in the dark so that the normal infected could not see him. He moved like a cat in the night, which surprised Nathan. Ellie  
was close behind, separating with him to get to her victim. Sully moved behind, letting Nathan sneak forward. The  
creaking of the infected rattled through Nathan's bones. He concentrated on evening his breaths, because the last thing  
he could do right now is panic and miss his only shot.  
Quicker than he could think, Nathan saw Joel spring out of the darkness and cut a clean line through the clicker's  
neck. Spurts of blood moved across the air, splattering onto the ground. The head cracked on the floor, and all three of  
the other infected looked to see Joel and a clicker's body, which had barely hit its knees on the ground. Ellie was the first  
to react accordingly. She used the spiney, uneven side of the table leg and jammed it through the back of infected's skull.  
It screeched and waved its arms, wondering where it's attacker was. She twisted the leg and snapped its neck. Another  
crack of bone shattered through the night as Sully broke the table leg on its head, killing the infected instantly. Nathan  
mirrored Sully, bringing the leg down hard on its head. The infected crumpled instantly, but still twitched and moaned.  
He jumped from behind his cover and stepped down in its head, the cracking ringing up through his body. He shuddered  
a little bit at the feeling, but regained his composure when he looked at the gate.  
"Come on!" He hissed. Nathan was the first over the gate. He placed his hand out to push Ellie over. Ellie scaled up,  
almost no problem. She sat at the top and took Nathan's hand. He managed to do most of the work for himself. They  
both fell over onto the other side.  
Joel stopped for a second at the gate, unsure of how he was going to go about this. Nathan stood back up quickly and  
went to ask if Ellie was okay. She brushed him off, more concerned about Joel. She and Nathan ran up against the gate,  
watching Sully and Joel.  
"Goddamn it!" He heard Sully mumble.  
"What's wrong?" Ellie gasped. Joel went up against the fence. "That's too much of a climb for us we need a-" Joel  
started to explain, but he shut himself up. Nathan opened his mouth to ask what was up, but Joel put his hand over  
Nathan's mouth through the gate. The silence was only for a couple of seconds before a large amount of clicking had  
made itself known. Three, maybe more clickers and a couple of other infected had made their way around the house.  
Ellie looked at Joel.  
"What now?" She whispered. Sully backed up against the gate.  
"There has to be an opening somewhere here, I mean, it's a gate," Nathan hissed. Sully tugged and pushed at Joel's  
arm.  
"We gotta get the hell out of here before we're in their hearing range," He said. Joel started working his way around  
the gate, looking in the two possible directions he could go. "Both of you," Joel demanded. "We need something to help  
us go over. I don't care what it is, but we need it. Search it now. We'll have to fight them off." Sully turned around,  
exasperated.  
"Are you out of your goddamned mind?" He almost yelled. The clicking became more alert at his voice. Joel picked  
took his shotgun off of his bag, loading the bullets. "We don't have a choice." He stated. Sully mumbled under his breath  
before taking out his pistol. Ellie grabbed Sully's collar and took off her bag. She loaded up her hunting rifle and handed  
it to him. "This'll do better," She said. "But don't go stealing it. I need it back, it's mine, I earned it." Joel flashed Ellie a  
little smile.  
"Alright, move along." He said. "And hurry up." Ellie took her bow out, grabbing two arrows. Nathan reached in his  
bag and pilled out his revolver, loading it. "Let's go," She said as they made their way close to the complex closed in  
by the gate.


	7. Close Calls

Ellie ran ahead of Nate as fast as she could whilst being quiet. Right now, she wanted something to climb on. A dumpster would be good. He could put his feet through the gate, climb over, and land on it, no problem. Good for broken Joel…but maybe a rope?  
The first gunshot went off, Ellie felt it in her chest. The sound reverberated throughout the facility they were exploring. "What are we looking for?" Nate called. She looked over at him, determination rather than fear clouding his eyes.  
She liked this guy.  
"Something for them to climb on. A sturdy box, or a dumpster, or maybe a rope or chain. Preferably a box," She said. Nate began to look around in circles, scanning the area quickly. She could tell he's a quick thinker, she could see the gears in his head turning. She herself began to explore the area, her bow ready to take on any infected that might be lurking. More gunshots flared behind her, and it seemed that even more clickers had come out of nowhere. She rushed behind the building, only to be stuck too close to the gate for her comfort. Her heart began to race as she ran back the other way, until a grey, rotting hand grabbed her. In shock, she had dropped her bow behind her. An overall careless move, Ellie!

"Let go!" She stuttered, pulling out her switchblade. She fought as hard as she could against its grasp, pulling herself far enough from the gate so it wouldn't bite her. "Nathan!" She screamed. She swung behind her, the blade banging against the gate and shredding the arm of her attacker. She felt kicked and panicked for what seemed like forever. A loud gunshot echoed, and the infected lost its grip for a second. That gave Ellie enough time to turn around and kick its arm out of the gate. She grabbed her bow and arrows and ran out of the tight space. She looked in front of her; Nate still had his gun drawn.

"Did it bite you?" He asked, his voice cracking. Ellie felt around her neck and arms for blood. Even though she was immune, he couldn't guess that. Joel and Sullivan were occupied, she couldn't depend on him to protect her right now. Not that she needed it, but just in case Nate didn't trust her. She held out her arms and turned her head.

"Do I look bitten?" She almost stated, rather then asked. She knew she couldn't move until he was comfortable, but they were wasting time. He lowered his gun and walked away. "Here, follow me, I found a gate door." He said. He didn't make eye contact with her at all, but she ran and followed him. They jogged over to the gate, and Nate used his gun to point at the gate. "There, it's all locked down. But if we shoot it to open it, we can't close it again." Ellie looked around behind her for something else they could use.

"There," She said. She walked over, motioning for Nate to follow. "There's a ladder." She began to tear at the ivy growing on it to free it. Nate helped her, tugging it out of its place. The uproar of more infected began to push Sullivan and Joel away from them. Ellie screamed at the top of her lungs. Nate began to yell for Sullivan.

"Run over here, we have a ladder!" Ellie and Nate grabbed both sides of it, and ran to the nearest gate with it. that launched it over the top of the gate, with barely too much power. The ladder, rather than landing perfectly for them to climb up, fell over flat on the ground. Nate cursed under his breath in a foreign language. Ellie would probably ask him about it later if she remembered. Before she could register, Nate had pulled off his bag and jumped up the gate as fast as he could he almost cleared it perfectly, his ankle getting caught on the edge.

"Nathan!" Ellie exclaimed, running to the gate. He had made it over, but landed on his side across from her. He laid there in pain for a few seconds, before standing up and pulling his revolver back out. "Ellie," He said, extremely winded from the fall. "Fight them off, Sully and Joel need to run," Ellie took off her bag and pulled out her pistol. She loaded it and ran back to Joel and Sully.

"Guys," She started, a little winded. "You need to start running over there, Nate and I got a ladder-"

"Hell, you kids are lifesavers!" Sullivan exclaimed. He shot another infected in its head, a clean shot. "You ready, Joel?" He asked. They both started running back, the infected following. Ellie began to shoot them, some were clean shots to the head, and others were a little off. Joel called something out to her, but she couldn't hear him too well. She looked back to see him holding a hand crafted bomb. She stepped a couple feet away from the gate, still keeping her pistol up. Joel threw the can of sugar and powder straight into an infected's chest. And explosion of smoke arose, and Ellie ran back to where Sullivan and Joel were headed. Nate had fixed the ladder so it was standing up. He was sitting at the top of the gate, slowly dropping down to the other side. Ellie shot at the stray ones that came out of the darkness behind the men running to the ladder.

Sully stood at the base of their escape, waiting for Joel to jump up. He did, shooting up the ladder like a rocket. Ellie watched him, switching her focus to him and the crowd of confused infected in the smoke. It looked like it was clearing. Ellie loaded her gun with the remaining bullets and aimed for the first head she saw to escape the fog. With a soft thud, she heard Joel grunt as he hit the ground. Nate was coughing a little bit, probably from his earlier fall. Ellie really hoped he hadn't broken anything. Sully scaled up the ladder right when the infected cleared from the fog. They were confused as to where everyone had went, which was fine by Ellie. She ran back and made sure that Sully was over. He and Nate began working on getting the ladder back to the inside of the gate. Ellie checked on Joel.

"That was a hell of a scene," She almost laughed. Joel smiled at her, then patted her shoulder.

"Good job, Ellie." He said.

"You're good to go, though?" She asked, motioning towards his shoulder.

"I'm fine," He said, moving it a little bit. Ellie smiled proudly at him.

"Then lets get the hell inside, I'm getting cold out here!" Sully and Nate successfully pulled the ladder back to the inside of the gated facility. Ellie turned around and looked at it for the first time, really. It was a school, it seemed. It looked like the schools she and Joel would pass on their travels. She held her hand out for her hunting rifle back.

"Come on, I need it back," She said. "All the ammo too."

"Yeah, I know, kid, gemmie a sec." Sullivan stretched for a second before handing her the rifle, and about five shells left. She shoved the bullets in her pocket, leaving one out to reload. She turned around and assessed that everyone was there. Once everyone was composed enough, she motioned towards the building.

"Come on, lets go."


	8. Performing and Visual Arts

Everyone loaded up their weapons. Nathan winced a little bit every time he stepped. His whole side hurt from colliding with the ground earlier. He let out a tight breath, calling Sully to attention. Joel and Ellie walked foreword, whispering to themselves.  
"Kid, you okay?" He asked, walking backwards to meet up with Nathan.  
"Yeah, I'm fine I think," he coughed. "I just landed funny on the ground, as all." His steps seemed to be fine, he wasn't suffering from anything broken as far as he was concerned. Only bruising, hopefully.  
"You can go on without help?" Sully wanted to make sure he wouldn't have to carry Him, he thought. Nathan smiled. "I'm fine, lets just get inside." He whispered. Infected roared against the gate behind them, causing unnecessary attention to them. Nathan caught up with Joel and Ellie at the entrance of the largest building in the facility. He held his machete confidently, ready to kill whatever could be lurking on the other side. Elle turned over to him. He could see the remnants of flowers he drew underneath the dirt and blood on her face. He smirked at her a little bit.  
"Lets go," he said. Ellie opened the door and held her rifle ready. She slowly walked in, Nathan following behind Joel. They instantly fanned out, armed and ready to take down some infected. They ended up in an old office, half-circle desks with broken computers at them. Nathan remembered seeing some in the orphanage he was in. Most of the windows were broken in, glass littering the floor, reflecting beautifully in the full moon. Nathan looked behind the desks, checking for anything, really.  
They walked around for a little while, before declaring that they were now in an old high school. A private one, with a makeshift theatre and no gymnasium. Ellie began to talk to Joel.  
"So, what kind of school is this?" She asked.  
"I'm not sure," Joel responded.  
"It's really small, compared to that one we saw with Bill." Joel nodded. "There's pirates everywhere though." Ellie added. Joel nodded in agreement. Nathan looked around and did see a couple of pirates, with walls painted white, black, and red. He rubbed the walls of their filth in an attempt to read the school's name.  
"School of performing and visual arts," he slowly mumbled to himself. Ellie turned around. "School of what?" She said.  
"School of performing and visual arts," he repeated.  
"Aaah," Ellie sighed. "Joel did you hear? Performing. And visual arts." She stopped talking for a second and checked in a room next to her. "What does it mean, visual arts?" Ellie called out. "I mean, if you're watching something isn't that also visual? So performance is like a…" Nathan listened to Ellie drone on about her difference (or lack of) for performing and visual arts.  
"That kid's got a hell of a mouth," Sully whispered to Nathan. He smiled and pushed Sully back. "She kinda has a point," Nathan defended. Sully smirked and walked the other way.  
"So its not like a performance school, but it's all visual, right?" Ellie confirmed with herself. Joel turned around. "Well, I guess if you put it that way, but I think by visual it meant more art,"  
"So like people who make comic books are visual artists?"  
"I guess."  
"Cool."  
They all finished scanning the school for anyone or anything inside. Once it was clear for them to settle, they all picked a room to spend the night in. The room they choose was close to the gate, away from the infected. The windows were surprisingly still intact and uncracked. Nathan sat down in the center and looked around. Black lockers lined one wall, most of the broken open. Sheets of lines with black dots in them surrounded the edges of the room, swamping over a desk that seemed to be undisturbed since the start of the infection. Ellie sat down next to him and leaned back.  
"Ugghhh, I'm so tired," she quickly gasped. Nathan turned to her and smiled. She returned the expression and took off her backpack. "Hey, I found a giant stash of these in a room," she almost whispered. Nathan watched as she pulled out two boxes of pencils. One of them was colored, the other was a grey-toned pack. He excitedly took them from her, and pulled out his book immediately. He turned to a page and began to test out every color. Unfortunately, most of them broke in impact with the paper.  
"We need a sharpener," he laughed a little. Ellie put her bag back on and held her hand for Nathan to get up. "The building is close to here," she said. Nathan got up and they grabbed their things to go. Joel called Ellie's name.  
"We're just going to go scavenge for supplies," she told him. Joel was sitting down, with Sully unwrapping his arm. She motioned with her head at him. "Looks like you'll be needing something too. We'll be okay, Joel." Before he could protest, Ellie and Nathan were out of the door and headed to find a sharpener. And supplies, of course.


End file.
